On Thursday Dec. 28, the Lincoln County Sheriffs’ Office conducted a county wide check of establishments licensed to sell alcohol for off premise consumption. Of the 50 licensed establishments deputies were able to check 37 of them. The other 13 establishments were not open at the time of the compliance checks.

The checks are conducted by use of deputies conducting surveillance on the establishments while a community volunteer who is at least 18 years old but not 21 years old goes into the establishments and attempts to buy alcohol. The volunteer is not allowed to be deceitful when buying the alcohol. Of the 37 establishments checked, two violated the law of not checking the I.D. of the person purchasing the alcohol and committed the violation of sale of liquor for consumption by a minor.

Establishments who express an interest in increasing training to their staff and make sure they have good store policies about selling to underage people as well as the necessary equipment for their employees, can avoid a criminal charge for the first offense if they agree to the following:

1. Purchase and have available an updated ID checking guide.

2. Review current policies on the proper identification required prior to each sale and make changes if necessary to be consistent with the spirt of the CARD ME program.

3. Send at least one member of management and the employee involved to alcohol seller training or similar training as outlined in the attached training flyer.

4. Have no new violations for at least one year.

The goal of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and the purpose of conducting these compliance checks is reducing the access of alcohol to Lincoln County youth.

These checks are funded by a grant the sheriff’s office was awarded for Enforcement of Underage Drinking Laws.